Driving Miss Wealthy (US Version) DVD Region All

Directed by: James Yuen

Starring: Lau Ching-wan, Gigi Leung, Tats Lau, Chim Sui-man, Hui Siu-hung

How many times has this happened to you? You’re the heir to a multi-billion dollar fortune, but your dad isn’t convinced you know the value of money so he arranges an elaborate hoax so you think he’s on his death-bed and that an evil minion has exiled you, penniless, to support yourself on the streets with no one to protect you but Lau Ching-wan who’s pretending to be your Filipino servant, Mario. For years, audiences and critics have been crying out for movies to deal with harsh and realistic situations like this one and, finally, Hong Kong has risen to the challenge with DRIVING MISS WEALTHY.

A typical, Hong Kong comedy that throws more off-the-wall gags at the audience than an angry monkey with an armful of bananas, DRIVING MISS WEALTHY hangs its “make-it-up-as-we-go-along” plot on shameless comic performances by Lau Ching-wan and Gigi Leung, who demonstrate that they’re more than happy to make fun of themselves. Not every joke works, but this comedy romance is more than willing to kill common sense to show silly things. When Gigi and Lau first arrive in their ghetto home of Sham Shui Po, comedian Chim Sui-man plays everyone they encounter. Why? Because it’s weird, and the joke goes on for so long that after a while you have to laugh. No one’s on this ride for story logic, we just all want some jollies and DRIVING MISS WEALTHY is one of the better, if somewhat more knuckleheaded, movies to do so this year. The potentially-offensive gag of having Lau Ching-wan pretend to be Filipino works due to the fact that Lau seems to be making more fun of himself than of Filipinos, and his accent is outrageously contagious. Look for Wong Kar-wai IN THE MOOD FOR LOVE wallpaper gags, Johnnie To PTU and THE MISSION jokes and for a supporting actor playing a doctor who’s either a very, very bad actor, or a very funny one. In this flick, it’s hard to tell which.